New York, Feb 19, 2026, 15:32 (EST) — Regular session
- UNH shares buck a softer U.S. market in afternoon trade
- New research highlights forced plan switches in Medicare Advantage for 2026
- Investors keep one eye on Washington’s 2027 Medicare Advantage payment debate
Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) were up 0.5% at $289.57 in afternoon trade on Thursday, after swinging between $286.90 and $290.48 in the session. About 3.1 million shares had changed hands.
The stock’s small lift matters because UnitedHealth has become the sector’s stress test for Medicare Advantage, where private insurers run Medicare plans for older Americans and are paid a set amount per member.
Insurers have been pulling back from parts of the program for 2026 after warning that medical costs and reimbursement trends were pinching margins, and investors are trying to gauge how far that retrenchment goes.
A study published on Wednesday found nearly 3 million Medicare Advantage members — about 10% of enrollees — had to find alternative coverage in 2026 as insurers exited markets and scaled back plan options. It said rural members faced disruptions at twice the rate of urban ones, and that UnitedHealthcare accounted for nearly 14% of the forced switches; RAND policy researcher Hannah James wrote that “policymakers should consider whether the current program design adequately aligns plan incentives with beneficiary needs.” (Reuters)
Health insurers traded in different directions. Humana was up 2.2%, Elevance gained 0.5% and CVS slipped 0.6%, while the S&P 500 proxy SPY was down about 0.5%.
UnitedHealth, which runs insurer UnitedHealthcare and health-services arm Optum, last month forecast 2026 revenue of more than $439 billion and adjusted earnings above $17.75 per share. CEO Stephen Hemsley told investors the company “confronted challenges directly” and ended 2025 “a much stronger company.” (UnitedHealth Group)
But the path from here is not clean. Medical-cost pressure can linger, and policy tweaks to how Medicare Advantage is paid can ripple quickly into benefits, networks and plan availability — the levers insurers use when margins get tight.
Cyber risk is also back in the headlines around UnitedHealth’s Change Healthcare unit. A senior HHS cybersecurity official, Charlee Hess, said the 2024 attack “threatened the liquidity of our entire health care system,” as the department ramps up work to map third-party vendor risks; the breach exposed data of 190 million people, CyberScoop reported. (CyberScoop)
Next up, traders are watching the Medicare Advantage rate calendar: CMS has proposed a net average 0.09% payment increase for 2027, with comments due by Feb. 25 and a final rate announcement due on or before April 6. (Cms)
